The Death of Us
by axelnox
Summary: Izuku Midoriya is only sixteen, but already facing the knowledge that in six months he scheduled to die. Can Shouto Todoroki prepare him by then, or will something more come from this partnership? Tododeku
1. Meeting Death

Izuku...didn't expect to get his ghost so soon.

He was sure no one ever did, though. Who in their right mind would spend their hours thinking about how they would die, who would guide them to that death. Not him, that's for certain, until he woke up to Shouto sitting at the foot of his bed.

Their first meeting went a little like this.

"Ugh...urgh..."

Izuku could barely raise his head. His arms felt like led weights, but he knew he needed to get up. The familiar blaring of his alarm was like a failed siren song, lulling him to wake up in a room that was...cold.

Deadly cold. He felt as though he'd been chilled to the bone. Was the heat not working...?

He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and finally sat up, the pressure on the bed now shifting to just his legs and underneath the body of the boy at the foot of his bed.

Izuku was stone cold frozen when he saw the intruder. Two tone hair, a nasty scar, hands folded in his lap as he searched him with an icy gaze. How did he even get in here?! Had he hurt his mother?! His fists immediately flew up, and even through his trembling he got ready to growl threatening "GET BACK!" until he was cut off by a chilly toned voice.

"Izuku Midoriya."

How did he know his name?

"I'm sorry to inform you, but I am your death guide."

Those words made his heart sink to the pit of his stomach, his trembling fists dropping into his lap. Death guide? His ghost, already? They'd only just learned about them in school last year..

Everyone received a spirit to guide them into death. One who died in the same way they did. They always appear six months before the official date.

Was this boy telling him he only had six months?! He's only sixteen, he has a life ahead of him, dreams and aspirations, goals, relationships to build and--

"Oh god.."

Izuku looked at the boys translucent form, and for a moment, he swore he saw a look of pain before it was blurred by his own tears. They streamed down his cheeks and met at his chin, a silent sob choking him from vocalizing all the frantic questions he had. The most prominent being "How did you die?"

Since...he would be passing the same way. He couldn't bring himself to ask, though. The thought sent a wave of nausea rocking his body, and as he held his stomach his eyes squeezed shut. Maybe if he stayed like this, the boy would go! Maybe Kacchan hired him just as a scare tactic! Maybe maybe maybe!

But when he opened his eyes, the boy was still there. Solemn and quiet as he had been. The room was still freezing, the light barely filtering through his curtain.

The ache was still there, the feeling of doom, the feeling of utter shame and disgust and hatred at the scenerio. The sadness for himself, but more prominently, the sadness for the boy sitting in front of him.

The boy who needed a savior and never got one.


	2. Ignoring Death

Izuku let the morning carry on like nothing happened.

He showered, washed the tear stains off his cheeks, and rested his forehead against the tile wall. It felt like a dumping an ice cube in a bowl of boiling soup. It made the crying-induced migraine slow to a managable pain.

Dying. He was dying, surely enough, and the two toned boy sitting on his bed was the symbol of death.

He didn't even have the energy to wash his body. Izuku just rested there, the too hot water broiling his skin, as he did the math in his head.

It was September 24th. That meant he had til March.

One last winter. He'd barely see the beginning of spring before he was gone. No strawberry patches full of ripe fruit to pick with his mom, no bundles of tulips. He shook his head, his hand drifting to the faucet, turning it all the way off.

He cocooned himself in a tattered gray towel as he stepped out of the shower, glancing in the mirror. Through the crack in the door he could see him; still at the foot of his bed, hands in his lap, staring at him with those intense eyes. He latched the door shut and dropped the towel, bending over the sink.

Another wave of tears seized him by the throat. He had a nasty habit of that, crying. Crying all the time, but right now, it felt justified. It felt like it made plenty of sense. Through his tears, he threw on a plain blue t-shirt. One he shortly there after used to wipe his nose. Gross.

He felt gross.

Izuku pulled on his boxers and jeans before he cracked the door again, and soon enough, that same trained gaze. He was like a watch dog. Like Izuku might run from death, fight it tooth and nail. He wanted to, but...

He knew he couldn't. Death would win. Fate would win.

Tooth paste on the tooth brush, tooth brush in his mouth, he heard rustling. He watched the figure in the mirror move closer until the boy was propped against his door frame, eyeing him.

He looked so pale. Not just his complexion, his body. So opaque he felt he could reach through. Izuku had meber actually seen a ghost, since the only one you can see is your own.

"Midoriya."

He ignored the call, spitting the toothpaste out and continuing to brush. He didn't want to talk about it, didn't want to think about it.

"Midoriya."

Izuku flinched as a cold hand gently seized his wrist, almost immediately letting go. It certainly got his attention, and he thoughtfully, fearfully looked at the boy.

"I can answer any questions you have. Sorry for my crude entry."

This boy was so...flat. All his words fell on their face, the only inflection he'd heard so far was when he'd gotten his attention, and even that came out strained. He sounded like he was following a script.

Which might have been the case, considering immediately after saying that, he walked away.

Izuku finished his morning routine and dragged himself down the hallway, into the kitchen, where he heard his mother gasp.

"Izuku!! You're so pale! Do you feel alright?"

Another wave of pin prick tears. Another person he'd leave behind, his mother. His stomach lurched as he looked at her with tear filled eyes, hands clutching his stirring abdomen.

Should he tell her?

"This is Inko Midoriya, yes, I'm calling my son in."

Izuku's eyes widened as he heard her. Calling him in for school already?! He hadn't even had a chance to answer..

She cared so much for him, decidedly, he couldn't tell her. She had already become so frail, he worried this might break her.

"Go back upstairs and lay down darling. I have to run errands today, but you call if you nee--"

Her sentence was cut short by Izuku's arms around her abdomen, squeezing her tight, face pressed against her collar as he thanked her with a nod.

"I love you, mom."

"I love you too, Izuku, but you're burning up!!"

She gently held him at arms length, concerned for her son. He looked like he felt just awful, which wasn't far off. He felt dreadful, actually.

With her words, though, he trudged up the stairs. This meant a whole school day spent with him.

The ghost, the one with peppermint hair and gray blue eyes.

Getting into bed was a simple task. Not accidently kicking the boy at the end of the bed was less simple.

He got a curious look. Despite his better judgement, he responded.

"Mom called me in sick."

Silence. Of course, no more script to read from. They should've just let his soul rest, this seemed to be torture for both of them.

"She must care a lot about you."

"She does."

Another pause. Izuku stared him up and down, before it set in that he just chose his words carefully. As if walking on eggshells.

"Did you tell her?"

"No."

Now he felt he was getting too personal. Then again, this mysterious boy would be stuck with him, everyday, every hour for six months.

"...will you?"

Izuku didn't answer that. He wouldn't tell a stranger an answer he didn't even know himself. Instead he settled into his pillow and tugged his blanket over his shoulder, staring blankly at the dresser beside his bed.

He could have sworn he heard the boy grimace.

"..I'm Shouto Todoroki. I should've said before."

"Shouto, I think I need to sleep the shock off, if that's okay."

"That's fine."

That was the end of that conversation, but sleep didn't come easy. He could still feel his eyes on him, sense someone else in the room. Eventually, his headache finally knocked him out, and he distinctly dreamed of nothing at all.


	3. Engaging Death

Sadly, Izuku didn't stay asleep for very long. The cool air woke him up, uncomfortable and groggy as he was. For that split second of consciousness though, he was fully unaware of his situation. He felt no impending doom, only anger that he was awake.

Seconds don't last long, though. Izuku rolled over and startled so badly he nearly flung himself out of bed, "ooAAAH!"-ing at the sight of the body next to him.

No, it wasn't a corpse, but it was Todoroki. Which, in of itself was strange. He wasn't asleep, but just..

Laying. Waiting. Izuku clutched his blanket to his body, less upset than he was earlier. If anything, he was primarily confused with a touch of bitter.

Were these the stages of grief? He had no idea.

"Todoroki!"

Shouto's head turned and he looked at him, and Izuku swore he looked quite cozy laying there on his back. He had something on his mind that'd been bothering him since this morning. A pressing question, pulsing through his mind.

"How did you die?"

Shock. Shock flew across Shouto's face, and Izuku definitely caught it. Why was he so surprised? Wasn't this his job?

"I have been strongly advised not to say. Not yet."

Izuku gaped at the boy for a minute before he settled back into bed. Strongly advised not to tell him, how did this whole ghost thing work?

...howdidit work? His mind was racing.

Funny, how his attention had so drastically shifted, but it was in the name of self preservation. He hadn't consciously realized it yet but if he continued to mope around like a zombie, that'd be six months wasted. Six months he could've spent living instead of acting like he was already dead.

If Todoroki wasn't gonna tell him how he'd died, he was going to tell him something else. He was going to exploit his situation for any information he could gain.

Izuku slid open the door to his nightstand and retrieved a white and blue composition book. He had quite the collection; both full battered books and new blank ones completely filled opposing sides of the drawer, with a few stuffed in between them.

He liked to learn. He had a tendency to hyperfocus on things that interested him. Some books were filled with history, some detailed the governing mechanics of worlds he'd come up with.

He had a passion for learning and creating, and as he pulled a pencil out of the vintage All Might cup on his nightstand, he turned his body to Shouto, who was now sitting upright.

"So. What's it like?" Izuku asked.

He could see Todoroki's confusion, eyebrows bunching together and pushing up his forehead. Izuku lowered his pencil and continued.

"After you die. Where do you go?" he continued, full of curiosity.

He seemed hesitant to speak. Not like he couldn't, more so he just seemed like he didn't want to. But...Midoriya's intense stare made it hard to stay quiet.

"It's a big room. White and gray. Sophisticated." Shouto finally replied.

Izuku took notes. Since Shouto was a man of few words, it was easy to just write down exactly what he said.

"Where do you go from there?"

Izuku was genuinely intrigued. Sure, there was the school's vague overview, but it was about as helpful as sex ed. Not at all.

"...they evaluate you." Shouto muttered.

"Elaborate?"

"..They make you relive..."

Shouto grit his teeth, and Izuku could see his strain. So instead, he tried to change the topic.

"Does this building have windows?" Izuku quipped. Even such a simple question was still one that interested him.

Shouto, however, wasn't finished. One question at a time, Midoriya, he's going as fast as he can.

"They make you relive your death. Through memories. If you manage to relive it without crumbling, you're drafted."

Fascinating. So it wasn't a volunteer thing, it was mandatory? Drafted..

"What exactly are you drafted for?"

"Becoming a death guide. You're on your own until they need you." Shouto spoke slowly and carefully, as if every word was hand-picked.

"On your own where?"

"Sitting in the office."

"Doesn't it get lonely, waiting for so long?"

"Time isn't the same, there."

"How long have you been dead?"

He could see he'd hit a nerve. Shouto inhaled sharply at the question, turning his head.

He could understand why..he supposed that was a sensitive topic, maybe it was one of those things better left untouched.

"...I don't know, Izuku." He breathed.

His eyes widened. He'd answered?

Shouto spoke as though he was forced to, though. Almost like it took all his energy just to confess to that. Frankly, after this conversation, he looked exhausted.

Izuku wasn't satisfied, but he wasn't a monster. He finished scribbling down the majority of what they'd discussed before he sat the notebook back in the drawer.

The silence was very, very uncomfortable. Izuku looked at the clock, and raised his brows when he realized it was only nine. Knowing his dear mother she'd be out shopping for another two to three hours. Which meant, if he wanted to keep from completely spiraling again, he needed to entertain himself and his new acquaintance.

Izuku turned to him with an awkward smile.

"Um..do you have a favorite movie?" He said hopefully.

"I never really watched TV."

Well, there went that idea. He thought he might entertain him with a movie from his life. If he never really watched TV, though, that didn't mean he was alive before they were made.

It meant he just didn't watch it.

Clothes weren't a good indicator of time either. It was a uniform, white with blue lettering on the left chest that read "Guide Corp.".

Even though he was almost positive nothing was on, he plucked the remote off the floor where it'd fallen when he slept, and flipped through the channels until..

Oh! Finding Nemo was on!

"You've seen this one for sure."

Todoroki stayed quiet. Izuku wasn't sure if it was just him being antisocial, or a genuine lack of knowing how to respond.

"..right?" He continued.

After a short pause, Shouto replied.

"I haven't."

Izuku looked at him, stunned. Maybe this was after his time? He didn't know, but either way, he knew Shouto needed to see it. It was important to Izuku, since he could relate to Nemo and his fin.

He wasn't like everyone else, but that didn't mean he was worth less. It just meant he was unique! It had a good message, and..well, maybe Shouto would relate.

"We're watching it, then. You need to see it, I think you'll really love it." He said, and for once that day, his genuine hope reached his eyes.

At that, Izuku swore he saw Shouto's expression soften.


End file.
